“HOW TO PLAN A WEDDING?”
Recently, I’ve researched what advice wedding planning couples are most popularly looking for online and the above key term came up amongst top 10 wedding related searches online, so here is my spin on how to best plan your wedding based on over a decade of experience and 600 weddings in my career this far.
Do you want to find out more? I encourage you to scroll down now!
IDENTIFY YOUR VISION
In order to make your life easier on many levels, you must identify how you see you day and what’s important to you. Ask yourselves – what’s the big vision? Anything you must have or anything you’d rather avoid? Creating moodboards on the styles, venues, outfits, etc. can very quickly help you identify what you like and what you might not be so keen on.
This step is crucial in moving forward with your plan, otherwise, you might be going round in circles, until you understand your dream and perfect wedding day vision.
Would you know how to create your moodboards? Chatbox message me if this is something you think you’d like to learn more about.
DEFINE YOUR PRORITIES
So you say, “vision is a good focus point to have, but do I need it all?” and, I hear you!
Once you’ve identified your vision, it’ll become a lot easier for you to start defining all the elements of what’s truly important to you and what wouldn’t upset your dream wedding plan if you need to downsize or alter.
We will talk about your wedding budget shortly, but to give you an example – let’s say that as part of your vision you identified that you like big impressive entertainment, several acts, etc., yet you know that you’re also big foodies and want your guests to enjoy plenty of quality food and drink – now what’s more important to you? What can you compromise on in order not to upset your dreams if you need to make this decision?
Do you see what I mean about priorities? Have you come across this dilemma before? Give me ❤️ in the comment boxes below if you did, don’t worry we all compromise on some things 😊
CREATE A GUESTLIST
Now, this one is crucial and once you’ve got it done, it will truly help you multiple times down the line and if you can make it in a spreadsheet, that’s even better as it’ll make your life easier if you need to change or update it.
I often meet with couples to shortlist venues, catering and so on, so I ask about guest numbers and rough estimates are good, but then I ask about children or evening guests and this is where things get tricky, because these can have impact on your budgeting.
My advice is, spend one evening and write down all guests you’d like to invite, discuss with family, plan for +1s if you want to – remember this will help you not only in selecting the right venue or catering, but also with posting Save The Dates and Invitations, budgeting, assigning tables and so on… one task that will make a big difference to the rest of your planning.
If you’re looking for advice on how to best plan your guest list – head over to my blogpost on “Effective ways to plan your wedding guest list.”
CREATE AN ESTIMATE BUDGET
This is very important especially when you’re starting to plan your wedding, because in all the excitement it’s easy to make rushed decisions. You might wonder though, how will I know what’s a reasonable price and what’s not?
If you take time to assess your top wedding budget including your existing and future savings plus any contributions, this will give you a very good idea of how much you could spend on your special day.
You can then break it down into each element of your day – how do I do that – you might ask?
Head over to one of my latest blogs
“PLANNING YOUR WEDDING BUDGET - Realistic estimates that will help you stay within the budget!”
to get an idea of costs involved in your wedding.
GET AND COMPARE SUPPLIER QUOTES
Now, let’s get the quotes! If you don’t know where to start, wedding directories and online wedding planning platforms will give you access to multiple suppliers in the same category that you can email at the same time to compare what they offer and find out their pricing – it’s a brilliant time-saving activity.
And remember, the more information you can provide about what you’re looking for, the more accurate quotes you will receive in return. Once you start receiving your quotes, you will be able to easily identify how realistic your budget is and if you need to adjust any of it.
If you’re working with venue or wedding planner suppliers, they will not only come verified by these suppliers, but they might also be offering preferential rates for referrals – so remember to always ask about these recommendations.
Chatbox message me today if you would like to find out about the suppliers I recommend and work with already.
TRACK ESTIMATES VS. ACTUALS
Interestingly, often this is when the budget is considered done and forgotten about, while you move into finer detail planning.
My advice is to have your budget saved in a spreadsheet as a master working document that you can regularly update and keep on track of your spending. This will ensure you’re keeping within your budget as much as possible.
Why not create a column for your estimates/quotes and actually contracted values. You can also include what you’ve paid for and what’s still due to be paid. As you progress and make payments, your budget document can keep you right.
Would you like to try out one of my templates? Chatbox message me today.
BREAK YOUR DAY/DAYS DOWN
Breaking down your day or even days will help you compartmentalise the smallest of details into each individual element of your wedding.
You can start planning for what’s needed for your hair and makeup, then ceremony, and so on. If you’re planning for additional days, you will be able to identify what’s happening, and when and what you still need to organise for each event.
When wedding planning we’re all guilty of collecting little nick knacks as you shop around – I remember doing so myself when planning for George and my wedding nearly four years ago now and when you do so, you can note down which part of your day these little decorating features will compliment, you don’t want to forget about these, right?
You will also be able to note down what you still need to confirm with your venue, caterers or suppliers for each part of your special day.
Over the years, I’ve developed my own wedding planning checklist that identifies all of these events, details and questions you might need to ask yourself – would you like to try it out?
CLICK HERE to download yours today!
SORT OUT PAPERWORK
One of the most important elements of your wedding planning is the paperwork for your legally binding ceremony, so don’t forget about it and don’t leave it to the very last minute, especially if you’ve opted for a civil ceremony only, there will be nobody there to keep you right or send you reminders.
If you choose a humanist celebrant or a religious officiant, they will keep you right.
In Scotland you need to give minimum of 29 days’ notice of your intention to marry, however, don’t be too quick to do it either, because you will be disappointed to find out that notices aren’t accepted more than 3 months before your planned marriage ceremony.
These timings will depend on your location, so it might be worthwhile checking all the requirements at your ceremony destination and what paperwork you will be required to supply or even if you might be falling under any immigration checks.
If you’re looking for help and support with your M10 forms (marriage notice forms) in Scotland, chatbox message me today and I can talk you through these.
CREATE A TIMELINE
This matter is often approached the wrong way about – many couples’ perception is that you need to decide on when you want to start your day. Interestingly enough, the ceremony start will be defined by the end of your reception as you work your timings back from the end of the night – did you know that?
You need to identify how much time each event of your day takes and this will require a bit of work and communication with your venue, caterers and suppliers – watch out for my next blog as I will be offering a suggested timeline to help you out a little.
You will be asked about this wedding day timeline by almost all your suppliers in the final months before the wedding, but most importantly, you will need to have this figured out for your invitations, so the sooner you do it, the better.
Did you know your wedding day timings are worked out for the end of the night and not from your ceremony? Give me Y for yes or N for no in the comment boxes below.
ASSIGN GUESTS TO TABLES
This is the bit that I see many couples struggling with and honestly, it doesn’t need to be that hard of a task. I recently turned this into a fun activity for my couples.
You will need a large piece of paper to map the room, your guest list, post-it tabs and markers.
Doing it visually and in colour makes all the fun and before you know it, you’ll run out of guest names. It’s fun, simple and so easy to update as you get your RSVPs.
One thing you want to avoid is leaving table planning until after your RSVP deadline as it is likely to come at a similar time when you’ll have a lot more on your mind and deadlines piling up, so do it earlier rather than later and make adjustments only when you’ve got 100% confirmation on changes.
Are you dreading this part? Would you like me to help you plan your tables and assign your guest? Chatbox message me today and we can do it together and make it fun!
COLLECT AND ORGANISE RSVPs AND PREORDERS
Now, this is the tricky bit – when do you ask for RSVPs? When is too early? When is too late?
When you know you might have a complicated multiple-choice menu pre-order – you might want to do it earlier rather than later and ideally online if possible. Online RSVPs will save you a lot of time and you will be able very clearly to see who’s accepted, who’s declined, dietary requirements and any pre-orders. Remember that if you’re using an online service that you accept only individual RSVPs especially if you need a menu pre-order.
In my experience, I often observe too big of a time-gap between invitations being sent and RSVP deadline – this unfortunately, allows your guests to put their invitation away instead of dealing with it then and there. Save the Dates are there to ensure your guests block their time off for the wedding, invitations are only a confirmation and shouldn’t take longer than a couple of weeks to one month to be collected. Don’t make a mistake of giving your guests too much time to respond and remember you will still need to organise them, double check, and potentially confirm pre-order with your caterers.
Give me ❤️ if it makes sense to shorten your RSVP deadline.
COMMUNICATE FINAL DETAILS TO ALL SUPPLIERS AND VENUE
Around one month before you wedding, you want to ensure you’ve got all your details in check and organised into a cohesive plan. You might think – surely there will be changes in the last month and yes, you’re correct, but rather than organising chaos, you’d rather update smaller things as you finalise things.
If you work with my wedding planning checklist, I highly recommend you share it with your suppliers, caterer and venue one month before and updating your changes as you go along on the form, yet communicate the updated form in the last week before the wedding to avoid loss of communication or confusion.
This might come across controversial, but you’re always best to create a list of updates and share this as infrequently as possible. In my career I’ve worked at venues with over 130 weddings each year, sometimes even 6 weddings on in the same weekend, so I understand that it’s hard for venues and suppliers to find the correct information when they are working other weddings and events, and receive several and sometimes conflicting updates in the same day – this is where errors can happen.
Wedding planning is about keeping communication organised and cohesive at all times – would you like help with your final plan to ensure you’ve got everything in check? Why not book my One-Off Wedding Planning Consultation today?
ARRANGE REHEARSAL AND FINAL DETAILS APPOINTMENT
You might think – “I’m not doing a rehearsal dinner!” and you don’t need to. What I mean here is that if you’ve not had your wedding party together for a ceremony rehearsal and they don’t fully know what they are expected to do and when, it might be a good idea to meet together in the final week before the wedding (if you can) to decide on a quick run-through of the ceremony. Some celebrants offer this at a supplement to be there and guide one practise run for you or if you’re working with me, I can help you with that!
Additionally, it is always a good idea to arrange for a final details meeting with your venue and caterers in the last two weeks before the wedding, to ensure that if there are gaps, you can still make this update to them one week before the wedding. This handover opportunity will give you peace of mind and the opportunity for the venue and caterer to ensure they clearly understand and can deliver your vision.
Chatbox message me today if you need a bit of support with the preparation to your final details’ appointment or with your ceremony rehearsal.
AGREE DROP OFF AND SETUP
